Month: July 2017

Southeast New Mexico has two of the best options for departures out there. Both Hobbs and Roswell are small airports that allow a lot more flexibility to the traveler: free parking, short lines, and an ability to check in a bit later than you would have to if you flew out of a Denver or Houston.

But I have to admit, I really love flying out of Roswell.

I feel like if I ran an airport it would look like the Roswell International Air Center. First, it has a free book exchange, which is a nice touch. And the book selection is surprisingly good…usually. Today’s trip had nothing but Daniele Steele books and some other paperbacks I wasn’t interested in, so I fear I may have jinxed it.

But the best part is the airport in Roswell is like a junkyard full of random old planes and parts just scattered all over the place.

Now I don’t mean that as a negative. It gives the airport atmosphere and an adventurous feel. It can feel comparable to “Brad Pitt escaping the World War Z zombie apocalypse” when you are going down the runway and, looking out your window, you see dozens of old, gutted commercial jets.

It’s just a unique experience and coupled with an awesome staff at the Air Center you really can’t go wrong flying out of there.

Picture this: Floyd Mayweather, fresh of his win over Andre Berto, doesn’t retire. He decides to defend the WBC and WBO welterweight title and add another world title belt in the process. His opponent: the man widely seen as the second best fighter in the division. This kid is a young, hungry, 26-year old undefeated champion with a 7-0 record in championship fights. He’s coming up on a reign of three years as champion and has beaten some of the top fighters in the division.

You can stop scrambling to Boxrec.com to count the number of title defenses Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, or Kell Brook had when Floyd fought Berto. It’s not any of them. I’m talking about Thai fighter Thammanoon Niyomtrong, aka Knockout CP Freshmart.

Now right off the bat, I’m not sure what the meaning of his nom de guerre is, although I will note that American boxing fans have always been intrigued by the ring names of several Thai fighter’s. Several notable fighters from Thailand used the ring name “3-K Battery” (Yodsanan 3-K Battery, Fashan 3-K Battery, Medgoen 3-K Battery, Pandang 3-K Battery, and Chokchai 3-K Battery) after the motorcycle and automotive battery company based in Thailand. Now, before we start knocking them, just remember that it wasn’t that long ago that fighters stepped into the ring with Goldenpalace.com painted on their backs. Besides, unusual nicknames are as old as the sport. If I want to get really deep in the weeds, these guys have nothing on a guy from 1895 from Colorado who fought Young Peter Jackson. His name was Professor Snowball and on that warm July night in Colorado he set a record that has held up longer than any other in the annals of sports: least intimidating nickname ever. Although it should be noted that Professor Sunshine gave him a run for his money in 1902. Nonetheless Sunshine earned some bonus points for winning his only professional fight in Salt Lake City against Professor Pistol. I am not sure what institution of higher learning gave Pistol, Sunshine, and Snowball their doctorate degrees, but I’m leaning towards Ohio State. (Go Blue).

Now Niyomtrong (15-0, 7 KOs) has been completely unknown in the United States, through no fault of his own. Unfortunately fighters in the minimumweight division have been ignored by American fight fans ever since Ricardo Lopez retired. I don’t know what it will take to fix the exposure problem for him since he’s certainly earned some respect based on his accomplishment in the ring. I don’t know, maybe a new and even catchier nom de guerre. His Boxrec photo sort of looks like Keanu Reeves, and his last name starts with “Niyo”, so I don’t know; maybe he should call himself “The Matrix” and come out into the ring in a black trench coat. That might actually start trending on YouTube.

But as awesome as it would be to have a fighter named Neo fight as “The Matrix”, let’s be honest, it won’t happen. Unfortunately Niyo is going to continue to get a lot less attention than his skills warrant.

And that’s a shame, because right now the minimumweight division looks poised to enter something of a renaissance. Niyo may be a great fighter, but he is nonetheless forced to play second fiddle to the man regarded as the best minimumweight in the world: his countryman, Chayaphon Moonsri (47-0, 17 KOs).

Now I’m not knocking that fact. I think Moonsri should be ranked as the best fighter in the division. But it’s by an inch, not a mile. Moonsri has a record of 8-0 in world title fights, and some Western eyes are going to be looking toward Thailand in the coming months as he closes in on one of the last great records in boxing: Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record. Yeah, Floyd tied it and looks poised to break it in September when he takes on Conor McGregor. But wouldn’t it be a statement if Moonsri can get to 49-0 and then challenge his undefeated Thai opponent in a unification bout? That would be an appropriate fight for such a legendary record. I don’t know if it is a pipe dream or not, I don’t know what boxing factions in Thailand it would involve. And as I have zero knowledge of what theThai boxing scene looks like I really don’t know if the parties involved would even be open to fighting each other. Maybe this unification fight would involve too many diverse factions in Thai boxing.

But if Mayweather-Pacquiao taught me anything, it was that money talks. And I would think (hope?) that a Moonsri-Niyo fight would have the potential to be very lucrative for everyone involved. Who knows, maybe the 3-K Battery company can swoop in and make it happen.

And I should add, that would just be the beginning. The best part of a unification fight is the excitement wouldn’t have to end there.

Whoever comes out of that fight could then step into the ring against a fighter who may very well be the second incarnation of Arturo Gatti: Japan’s Tatsuya Fukuhara (19-4-6, 7 KOs). Fukuhara, the WBO 105-pound champion, doesn’t have as flashy a record as the two Thai fighters, but what he has plenty of is heart and grit. Any fight with him would be an all out war and if American boxing fans could get the opportunity to see a Niyo-Fukuhara fight, or a Moonsri-Fukuhara fight, I have no doubt that it would revitalize interest in the division.

But all of that is dependent on Niyomtrong winning this Saturday as he defends his title against Rey “Hitman” Loreto (23-13, 15 KOs) of Davao City, Philippines. Now on paper this looks like it should be an easy win for Niyomtrong, but I wouldn’t completely count out the Hitman just yet. He has only been stopped once in his career and he is coming into the fight on the heels of a seven fight win streak which includes a first round KO over South African contender Nkosinathi Joyi (whose record at the time was 24-3, 17 KOs). The Joyi fight was for the IBO light flyweight title in Joyi’s backyard. The Hitman is a naturally bigger man, usually fighting at 108-pounds, and as he showed against Joyi, he can win in hostile territory.

So what will happen in Thailand this weekend? Most likely Niyomtrong, aka Niyo, aka The Matrix, aka CP Freshmart will come out on top. He looks like he could be the total package and despite the Hitman’s KO in South Africa and his 6 knockouts in his last seven fights, I still think Niyomtrong has enough skill to shut down Loreto’s offense.

From there, big things may be coming to the sport. If Niyomtrong wins we might just end up seeing the biggest fight to ever hit the 105-pound division before the end of 2018.

So continuing this weekly series, “This week’s top fight (you probably won’t see), I wanted to take a moment to discuss the “contenders” for selection. Right off the bat, I would like to sort of clarify this weekly series. I’m not discussing whatever fight will be televised on ESPN, HBO, or Showtime. I’m basically looking at the upcoming schedule and giving a shout out to a meaningful or interesting fight that I know I won’t be able to see until a few weeks later when someone posts it on YouTube after uploading it from the potato he filmed it with.

So an early front runner would be WBA #7 and WBO #14 ranked junior middleweight John Vera (16-0, 10 KOs). The 28-year old Vera is a genuinely nice guy and I won’t lie, I’d love to see a fighter from the Southwest come home with a world championship. The young Texan has shown some of the early signs that he could win a world title in 2018, and his fight this weekend on July 15 at the Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino in Chandler, Arizona should push him a little closer to that goal. He will be fighting for the WBA-NABA USA super welterweight title against heavy handed Puerto Rican Daniel Rosario Cruz (11-2, 10 KOs). Rosario may not have the flashiest record, but his two losses (against Norberto Gonzalez and Edgar Ortega) were both razor thin decision losses that could have gone his way. Plus he seems to have great punching power and could be the guy who answers the ever important question of “can this guy take a punch?” Vera picked up a lot of XP in his last fight, a split decision win over former world title challenger Salim Larbi back in January. But although Larbi had a big edge in experience over both Vera and Rosario, what he didn’t have was a lot of punching power. At press time Larbi has seven knockouts in 29 fights. Rosario will possibly be the hardest hitter Vera has yet to face, and if he lands some of the shots Larbi was able to sneak in, he could test the chin of the Texan.

Rosario won his first eight fights, but only one came against a fighter with a winning record: then undefeated prospect Jordan Wisenfeld. But I’m basing my assessment on Rosario’s power and his ability based on his last two fights before the loss to Gonzalez in November of 2016. He scored a pair of knockouts over prospects Alphonso Black (KO3) and Aaron Garcia (KO2) for the WBO Latino junior middleweight title.

Now this is not to say I think Vera is there to be upset. Vera has shown an ability to adapt and some above average power on his end. Rosario will be there to be hit, and I anticipate Vera will get his chance to test the chin of the Caguas Puerto Rico native before all is said and done. Vera does a lot of things right and really appears to mostly need polishing around the edges and a little more experience before he should be ready to test the fighters in the top five (I for one would love to see him square off with WBO #7 ranked Kanat Islam or former champion Liam Smith as I think both fights have the potential to be crowd pleasing brawls that would bring out the best in Vera). But although some might see the 11-2 record and conclude that Rosario is the sacrificial lamb with little chance of derailing the world title hopes of Vera, I would like to note that at the same time in his career Ricardo Mayorga’s record was 10-3, 10 KOs. I’m not saying Rosario is the next Mayorga, but I’m not ruling it out, and that’s what makes this fight so intriguing.

So I really pumped this fight up. Why isn’t it the top fight of the week? Well, in part it’s for the second part of the equation. You may not see this fight, but that’s going to be on you, not because it isn’t televised. The Vera-Rosario fight is to be broadcast live on Facebook via a new series called “FightNight Live!” I haven’t seen their previous broadcast yet, but I won’t lie, I’m stoked about Saturday’s fight. Having a live broadcast of a fight Facebook that isn’t recorded with a potato or a by guy juggling on a mechanical bull is something that is long overdue and I’m liking the setup with this. There is a Q&A during the broadcast with viewers, which is a novel concept to say the least. As long as that guy who keeps posting his Viagra ads in the comment section of my Fightnews articles doesn’t show up, I think that would be a tremendous addition to the broadcast. But with that being said, the last time I checked the “FightNight Live!” Facebook page only has 3,817 likes. Now I won’t do a free plug for ESPN or HBO’s upcoming fight, but I will give a free shout out for an upstart online fight series that is getting the word out and pushing a great fight card. Tune in on July 15th on Facebook and let me know in the comment section what you thought of the fights and of the series “FightNight Live!”.

Last year (October 2016) I had the opportunity to visit Georgetown, Guyana and spent a day visiting the Supreme Court of Guyana as well as a session of the Magistrates’ Courts of Georgetown.

Right off the bat, the lack of air conditioning was…notable. I know, I know. First world problems. But when it was 90-degrees outside, you quickly notice it when you walk into a crowded room with two dozen people and there is no AC.

Second, you can’t help but notice Queen Victoria. Like any good commonwealth nation the Queen’s statue can be found in front of the highest judicial office in the country.

Only Queen Victoria didn’t have a left hand. Or a nose. The disrepair of the Queen’s statue left her resembling Lord Voldemort.

The statue was clearly put up when the British were still running the show and it looked like it hadn’t been maintained since Guyana declared itself a republic in 1970.

You think the British would have foot the bill to put Victoria’s nose back on her face.

I almost wondered if this was Cheddi Jagan’s way of getting back at Winston Churchill for Britain’s military intervention in 1953. But the Non-Aligned Monument wasn’t in the best of shape either as Tito’s nameplate was missing.

I went ahead and entered the Magistrate Court complex, and after a sign warned me not to “tout” I proceeded to sit in on a preliminary hearing on a homicide case.

I left fascinated at the distinct differences between the Guyanese legal system and that of the United States. For example, I never knew what the term “robing room” referred to. I knew it was a webpage, but I never actually saw a robing room until I went to Guyana.

Also, the defendant was required to sit in a box that made me think of a penalty box in hockey.

Perhaps most fascinating was the way that the court made a record of the hearing. From what I could tell the attorneys made their arguments, questioned the officers, cross examined the witnesses, and gave closing arguments while the magistrate scribbled furiously in a yellow legal pad. At the end of the hearing came what I felt was the most interesting and fascinating development of the entire hearing: the magistrate read from his yellow legal pad and, if the attorneys were in agreement that this was an accurate record of the testimony, these pages were entered into the record.

Now right off the bat, I wondered how legible these pages could be. The audio in the courtroom wasn’t the best, and is common in court hearings the witnesses often spoke softly, or in the alternative, rapidly.

Later I went and visited the record archives of the Supreme Court and, well, let’s just say it didn’t appear to be particularly organized. It felt like one of those places where the record keeper had been there for a few decades, and when he retired, nobody would be able to find anything.

I bring this up since I recently read about a fire at the prison in Georgetown. A fascinating article by Dennis Adonis in “Caribbean News Now!” discussed the potential legal dilemma facing the court’s in Georgetown due to the loss of “thousands of conviction records, prisoner profiles, sentence particulars, and committal warrants” destroyed by the fire. Adonis noted that in Guyana prohibits “the prison system from incarcerating a person without a warrant or an instrument that was issued by a convicting magistrate or judge, to commit that person to prison.”

The end result may be that Guyana is forced to release nearly half of the inmates who were housed in this prison facility.

It sounds like the Supreme Court of Guyana is about to get a lot busier in the coming months.

But that forces us to find a new entry for this week’s top fight you probably won’t see. A quick scan on Boxrec shows a busy weekend set with several fights in Argentina. But nothing I would classify as “must see.”

In Spain there is a scheduled fight between undefeated Guillermo Rivero (4-0) and Albert Ulrich (0-22) of Cameroon.

Yeah, you could probably miss that one. (Although interesting side note, Ulrich is ranked by Boxrec as the top light heavyweight from Cameroon, and has only been stopped five times in twenty-two fights, so that fight should go a few rounds even though it seems pretty clear that Rivero will come out on top.)

But Ulrich isn’t the only fighter from Cameroon fighting this weekend, and in a fight that could be noteworthy for the super middleweight division in the coming months, former WBC world champion Sakio Bika (32-7-3, 21 KOs) is set to take on Australia’s Luke Sharp (14-5-3, 6 KOs) in a fight for a WBC regional title later today in New South Wales. Bika, unlike the aforementioned Ulrich, is a highly accomplished fighter who has already established himself as arguably the best fighter to ever come out of Cameroon. But he hasn’t won a fight since June of 2013 (in a fight for the vacant WBC super middleweight title against Marco Antonio Periban) and although Sharp has lost three of his last four fights, he certainly could be catching Bika at the right time. Bika is a tough guy with a solid chin (he went the distance with Adonis Stevenson in a fight for the WBC light heavyweight title in his last fight back in 2015) so he should come out on top this weekend. And he clearly has a plan to get back into the world rankings (fighting for a WBC regional belt and having another fight set in October). But although I am not picking Sharp in an upset, I am also not ruling it out. Age and father time eventually catches up to every fighter, and a layoff of two years can’t be a good thing for an older boxer.

Now a lot of old time Australian fight fans still remember back in 1989 when another former WBC world champion, Matthew Saad Muhammad, came “Down Under” to take on a local boy Kevin Wagstaff in Queensland. Saad Muhammad hardly resembled the legendary former WBC light heavyweight champion as he struggled with the Australian journeyman. And unlike Bika, who resides in Australia and has remained a ranked contender up until his last fight against Stevenson, Saad had already shown signs that he was a spent commodity long before 1989 (he came into the Wagstaff fight on the heels of a first round KO loss to Frankie Swindell). But to me Matthew Saad Muhammad remains a stark reminder of what happens when a father time and age catch a fighter against the ropes. I still remember the moment Saad Muhammad got “old” in the ring. It was on December 19, 1981 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 2:30 of the second round. For five minutes Saad boxed beautifully, pumping the jab as he cruised to what looked to be an easy decision victory (Saad was known for making fights tougher then they needed to be by engaging in crowd pleasing wars). But Qawi landed a hard right hand at 2:30 of the second round and Saad Muhammad would never recover from that punch. Ever. Qawi would stop him nine rounds later but the Matthew Saad Muhammad who fought on for ten more years and twenty one more fights never again resembled the fighter who outboxed Dwight Qawi for all of five and a half minutes during his ninth world title defense.

Will Sakio Bika be able to string together a few wins and maybe claw his way back into a world title fight in 2018? Maybe. But first he needs to prove to the world that he has more than five and a half minutes of greatness left in him. And he is going to have to start right now. If Bika is fighting his own battle with father time, if this is round three of his own personal battle with Dwight Qawi, then we may know by the end of the day what the future holds for Bika and the super middleweight division.

Normally I don’t get too excited about a fight featuring a top ranked contender versus a TBA in a six rounder, but this weekend’s fight featuring Hughie Fury is worth checking out if for no other reason then it really shouldn’t be happening. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it is (and not because I am anticipating a competitive fight). I appreciate the gesture and the willingness to whet the appetite of boxing fans looking forward to the upcoming Parker-Fury clash in September. But this is a no-win situation if ever I saw one. At best he blows out his opponent (and how much ring rust to you shake off in that situation?). There is no reason to take on a tune-up fight when you already are signed to fight for the world title.

I can’t help but think of Clarence “Bones” Adams. Most of you remember Adams as the popular former WBA super bantamweight champion who had two memorable fights against Paulie Ayala on HBO back in 2001 and 2002. But in 1995 Adams was a young, up and coming contender whose career was in freefall after losing back to back fights against Orlando Canizales (for the IBF bantamweight title) and Frankie Toledo. The Toledo fight came as a result of a shoulder injury and Adams elected to take on a little known club fighter named Jeff Trimble in February of 1995 in Detroit just three months after losing to Toledo due to the dislocated shoulder. Although some wondered if the injury of Adams had enough time to heal, few anticipated that Trimble (who was coming into the fight with a 4-8 record) would be any test for Adams. As fate would have it, Adams would lose his third fight in a row after he suffered another dislocated shoulder.
It’s worth mentioning that it was three months ago that Fury was forced to pull out of his title fight with Parker due to a back injury. Does this mean that I’m picking Fury to lose in an upset? No. But I have some questions about if Fury is at 100% and we may get answers to that question this weekend. If his back is still bothering him we may know about it on July 8th. If he is suffering from ring rust we may know about it on July 8th.

Odds are that if they can find an opponent for Hughie Fury by Saturday (Fury tweeted as recently as yesterday that he was still on for the July 8th fight so I am expecting the fight to go forward) we won’t be rewarded with a tremendous fight. Whoever ends up taking the fight will have less than a week to prepare for the WBO #1 ranked heavyweight, and odds are they will be bringing in someone who isn’t going to push Fury even if he had ample time to prepare for the fight. Most likely it will be little more than a glorified sparring session where Fury works off some of the ring rust. But even if he is healthy it is worth noting that the last time a fighter took on an ill-advised tune-up after signing to fight for the heavyweight title in London was way back in 1993.

So I decided to start a blog, which will be mostly dedicated to travel and the sport of boxing. Right off the bat, I will not be discussing anything related to the law or the practice of law.

I first started writing for the website Fightnews.com back in 2001, and over the years I’ve been all over the world covering fights. Some locations have been memorable, others…not so much. But I’ve been fortunate enough to see the world from the neutral corner and hopefully I will be able to continue to do so for the foreseeable future.